Sorry but I have to vent.

I just got a book with a giant sticker on the front with a message telling me I have to "read and release". Actually, I love this author and I will re-read this book. This book is MINE to do with as I please. Our contract is: you send me the book. Period. No more stipulations.

So I took the sticker off and left a +1 feedback. No harm, no foul.

Then I noticed the sender had written in red permanent marker the bookcrossing ID number on the top of the book's pages. There was nothing in the book's condition telling me it would be marked all over advertising some other book site. Changed to +0.

I went to the site and checked the book ID, just to see how far it had traveled. It has not traveled ANYWHERE. The sender marked it up specifically before s/he sent it to me.

This moocher's rudeness has now made me HATE bookcrossing. I'm not participating in your little project. Why RUIN the books you want to track?

Have you ever had this problem?

I do bookcrossing, but I like to think I'm reasonable about it. I only put on a sticker, and it is the one the site recommends, which doesn't say that you have to pass the book on. I never mark the book itself, so you could peel off the sticker if you wanted and there'd be no trace. I also only register mass market paperbacks that have some wear (no brand new hardbacks!). And (AND THIS IS KEY) I always indicate that a book I am offering has the sticker.

Why do I do it? Curiosity. Once I got a book from a swap site, from a person in West Virginia. When I got the book, it turned out to be an ex-library book from a nearby public library (central TX). I've often wondered how that book went from central TX to WV and back.

Would you have been less angry if your book had an interesting history that you could have seen on the bookcrossing site?

1. States that s/he is in Germany, when the book was postmarked form the US, so any bookcrossing details are already a lie.
2. Assumed I would be passing it on and instructed me that I MUST do so with the sticker on the front.
3. Marked a book I intend(ed) to keep forever with a stupid ID of a website that may not exist by the time my descendants inherit the book.

An interesting history would mean I couldn't blame all these things on a single individual whom I can rate.

I'm never gonna "release" any of these books. Out of SPITE.

I absolutely HATE defacing of books.

I just received one, as well, and it looks like from the same person. Big bookcrossing sticker and id on the cover, plus bookcrossing + id written in marker on the top of the book. Says "Germany" in their profile, but my copy came from Spain.

It's probably not a big deal for me, but I certainly would have liked to have known ahead of time. This person has more than one comment about the same issue, but continues to do the same thing.

Bookcrossing is primarily a philosophy about sharing books and trading thoughts with those who have read that particular book. It's primarily non-economic: bookmooch operates on bartering (with a web-based point accounting system) as bookcrossing operates on the act (and good-will) that comes from releasing a book, with no economic return. Perhaps bookcrossing is more akin to the Little Free Library concept (like little birdhouses that people keep on their property housing books that people can take or contribute to).

Bookcrossing, while initiated as a website, has spawned multiple person-to-person communities all over the world, ranging from monthly meetings at coffeehouses, to book rotation groups via mail, to national and international conventions of book lovers.

The labeling and marking systems that bookcrossers use vary. Most typical is a sticker / nameplate on the inside cover of the book. Some write the ID# of the book on the title page. Very few (referring to original thread poster) write the ID# on the pages.

That said, bookmoochers who are also bookcrossers (and I fall into this category) need to be very clear concerning the condition of the books they are putting on bookmooch, and the reasons for assigning that condition evaluation to their books. They need to state how the books are marked up, where markings are located, as well as general quality of the physical object. Once a reader receives a bookcrossed book (or any book for that matter), that reader has every right to do whatever he/she wants, including keeping that book for the rest of his/her life. Avid bookcrossers actually do this; they refer to these books as being placed in their PC (permanent collection).

Bookcrossed books should have little or no value on the antiquarian book market. Bookcrossers, who are generally quite amiable people, release books because they wish to share their love of reading with others, and sometimes hope that they've touched the lives of others through their sharing of books that they love.

Bookcrossers, in exchange for the joy and curiosity afforded by the possibility of finding out where their books will go next, often will release high-demand books. Generosity is contagious, and observing a bookcrosser release a high-demand book will prompt others to do the same.

Bookcrossed books (physical books) belong to the owner of the book. Bookcrossing as a business entity does not own bookcrossed books.

As I understand it, bookcrossing operates as a small business consisting of site owner and a couple of employees, including a tech / site developer. I met the site owner years ago at a convention who was friendly and inviting of suggestions for their website from heavy bookcrossing users. Their revenue comes from expanded functionality on their site through yearly memberships, and bookcrossing supplies. Bookcrossing users voluntarily invest time, energy, and money in the activity, broadly defined, of bookcrossing because they truly love books, both as vehicle for knowledge and literary arts, as well as its physical manifestation of said knowledge. It's rather idealistic, actually - clients who are excited about a small business, clients who can participate fruitfully in that business without paying anything if they so desire.

Hopefully my notes here have clarified certain aspects of bookcrossing and its potential interaction with bookmooch. I believe that we the readers and book enthusiasts benefit most from a plurality of economic and social systems, whether it be libraries, independent bookstores, amazon.com, bookmooch, bookcrossing, paperbackswap, swap.com (when it was around), that enable us to have the most access to books we either know we want to read, or are pleasantly surprised to be introduced to.

It needs stating that I too have received several "book crossing" books and agree with Lou Jones, here that it's pretty upsetting to receive a book that is all marked up, labeled and treated disrespectfully.

As a collector of sorts think that books, no matter where they come from or go should "NEVER" be written in or printed on or marked up in any way. To me that is just sacrilegious somehow. Even the public library asks that you NOT harm any book in any way.

It seems like Ashley had a nightmare mooch (I personally would’ve reported the sender for lying about their country of residence alone) that definitely should’ve been disclosed as a BC book, but I wouldn’t say that any writing in a book is sacrilegious like many people here did. I *really* don’t agree with PapaG’s Tony Zaret-esque post. To me, I only care about if the content is legible and the book is in the condition described.

I mooched a BC book from someone who didn’t disclose it a couple years ago. Whoever registered the book didn’t want anyone to miss its BCID (the Bookcrossing Identification Number). It’s written on the inside front cover, the last page of content (below the text), and on all three sides of the pages. However, since this didn’t affect the book’s durability or legibility, I gave the sender a +1. I can still read it, so I couldn’t care less. I even provided a little journal update on BC! Turns out the sender wasn’t the original owner; it started in Australia, made its way to Spain, and then came to me in the Netherlands! Neat!

In short, unless someone slapped a sticker over the actual text, I won’t be mad at a BC book I receive, even if it wasn’t disclosed (even though it should be).